The Love of Fred Weasley
by RomanticlyXTragic
Summary: Hermione reflects on her relationship with Fred on the anniversary of his death with his twin. Rated T for later chapters.
1. Prologue

**Chapter 1: Prologue**

Hermione Granger apparated to the graveyard in Godrics Hollow, it was a humid night but her hair was as straight as ever. She was wearing all black, the black pumps he loved so much, her black shirt he got her for the interview with the ministry, and the knee-length black skirt that she got for Christmas last year from him. Tonight was all about remembering her loss, and she was going to do it in style.

Walking past all the weather-worn head stones she stopped, she could make out the faint outline of a person sitting in the grass. It was twelve thirty in the morning, who else would be here? Slowly she made her way over to the person.

"Mind if I join you?" Whoever it was jumped when she had asked the question.

"Sorry, I shouldn't be here; this is your time with him so I'll just go." Hermione gently placed her hand on the man's forearm.

"You can stay; I'd actually like the company tonight." She sat next to him on the grass. "How have you been?" she whispered to him.

"As good as I can get these days, how about you? How is everything in the mighty brain of Hermione Jean Granger?"

She laughed lightly. "I guess so, this time of year I get distracted and depressed, but no one ever says anything because they all know why." She choked on the last words. "I just miss him so much." She stated lamely.

"We all do, love, and if we didn't there would be a problem." The silence was welcoming considering the circumstances. "You were just about everything to him, except that little part he held reserve for me of course. He fancied you since our fourth year, and he counted down the days until we left school so we cold start our lives. He wanted to show you that he could be just as responsible and you could be, because maybe then you would have noticed him and liked him more."

"But I had already liked him! I liked him before you left and I knew that he could be responsible, you both could!" she started playing with the hem of her skirt. "He shouldn't have had to die, he wasn't supposed to. We were going to get married, and have kids, and live until we were 150!" tears formed in her chocolate eyes. "We were going to watch our kids grow old, then our grandkids, and maybe even their kids."

"He would have enjoyed that. Growing old with you and watching your family turn into mini-replicas of the two of you. I just want you to know that you are always going to be a part of our lives; and a part of our family even though he's gone."

"Thank you, I really needed this." Hermione wiped her face and got rid of the tears, and stared at the head stone.

"Let's go get a drink or something, on me."

"Alright, I'll be right there I just have to say something." Hermione pointed to the ground.

"Take your time." The man walked away and Hermione pulled a letter out of her pocket.

Setting the letter on the grave she also produced a single red rose. "I miss you so much, and it kills me knowing how close we were to being married. You shouldn't have died, I know you did it to save me but now what?" her bottom lip started trembling furiously. "Hopefully you get my letter; it says everything that I want you to know that way when we're together again you're caught up on my life down here. I'll write one every month and bring it by for you. I know that you're probably thinking and I'm crazy for not living my life up right now but this one day is just so hard to be happy on. Maybe someday I will be, for right now I'm going to go and try to live. I know that it's what you would want of me right now." Her eyes brimmed with tears and with her last words they spilled over. "I'll always love you, Fred."

**A/N: Okay, so what do you think? My original story line for this fic got deleted, but I figured that I'd rather start it out this way. Please review, it really helps with knowing what I can improve on.**

**Until next time!**


	2. The Beginning

**A/N: **Okay, I'm sorry this took to long to update, school is really taking a toll on me this year and I've just been too tired to write. But I finally finished it and I hope you enjoy. More chapters are promised!

**Chapter 2: The beginning**

Hermione walked up the hill, silent tears streaming down her face. The moonlight fell upon the man she had been sitting with.

"I'm ready to go, George." She said. He nodded and took a hold of her hand. Hermione had closed her eyes but knew the odd feeling of apparition very well.

"You can look now." His soft voice said. Hermione obliged and parted her eyelids, eyeing the street ahead of her. "I figured a muggle pub would do better for the pair of us tonight." George started leading the way out of the dark alley, Hermione's small hand, which was resting lightly on the red-heads forearm, was still shaking.

They walked down the street for awhile in silence and when they got to the inn, it was barely inhabited. A small table sat in the corner, its top was polished and the chairs were wrought iron.

"George, do you have any muggle money?" Hermione whispered.

"I have enough for our drinks, don't worry." George assured her as a cute waiter walked over.

"What can I get for you two?" he shot a dazzling smile at Hermione. "I know this isn't your first time here." George looked confused.

"I've never been here, but please, just drop that. We'll have a strong drink each of your choice. Are you hungry Mione?"

"I think I'll have a basket of French fries please." The waiter nodded and walked towards the bar. "I'll be right back, I've got to use the bathroom." She walked towards the back of the pub as the waiter came back with their drinks.

"I don't mean to pry, but I'm sure it was you that I've seen here before with that lovely woman."

"She was with my twin brother, who has since died and this is the anniversary of his death." The waiter stopped what he was doing in shock.

"I haven't upset her have I? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it, and you just look so much like him."

"I know, but tonight she needed comforting and a strong drink." George looked the young man over. He was very Italian and looked Hermione's age.

"How long ago did this happen?" he whispered almost fearfully.

"Two years, when she was nineteen. There was this guy…we were never really nice to his son in school. He wanted revenge since his kid died even though he was snobby and looked like a ferret." George smirked to himself.

"This wouldn't be the almighty Draco Malfoy you speak of is it?" the waiter also smiled. George then noticed him pulling out a thin piece of wood from his apron, his wand. "I knew the red hair reminded me of something."

"Blaise, is that really you?" Hermione was standing behind him. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I needed to make a living and some muggle cash, so I'm a part time waiter. It pays for my flat so I'm not really complaining." He smiled again.

"When do you get off? I'm sure talking to someone else from school would help." George asked.

"Ten minutes, for now I need to go tend to the other paying customers." He walked towards a table near the bar and asked if their food was alright. Hermione was busy staring at George with confused eyes.

"I think it would be good to talk to someone outside of my family Hermione. You need outside contact."

"And Blaise Zabini is my savior from all this?" she asked.

"Well, yes, because for now he's the only other person we've gone to school with. Lavender died, Parvati and Seamus ran off together, Dean is preoccupied with Luna, Harry's tied up with Ginny," he growled Harry's name. "And Ron is being an insufferable git."

"You're right; my Gryffindor pride gets in the way sometimes." They sat in silence for awhile, and then Blaise appeared with a plastic red basket of French fries.

"Here you go, so how have you guys been since I last saw you?" Blaise was referring to when the three had run down a corridor sending hexes at every Death Eater in sight. Blaise had joined the Order without anyone but Dumbledore knowing, and then disappeared from the wizarding world.

"I've been alright; I'm engaged now to Alicia Spinnet."

"Congrats mate!" Blaise shook his hand. "What about you Hermione?"

"Since Fred's death I've busied myself, you know how I get. Tonight I realized that I've lost contact with everyone except the Weasley's. Which isn't bad, it's just not good for me." Blaise nodded. "I expect you want to know the story." Hermione looked at the Italian mans face for a moment before he nodded slightly.

**A/N: CLIFFY! So I threw a twist in there by adding Blaise, but I couldn't really think of anything at the moment. Anyway, I'm starting the third chapter right now and I hope you like it! I think I might have to change the category a bit….nothing big, don't worry. **

_**So what really happened to Fred, and why did Blaise run away from the only world her knew?**_** Stay tuned for the next update and find out!**


	3. Stories and Tea

A/N: Sorry it took kinda long to write this, I'm kind of sick and already tired of school. High school sucks. Anyway, enjoy this chapter and hopefully I'll get time to write more. Thanks to all of you who reviewed and put me on your story alert list! It means a lot.

**Chapter 3: Stories and Tea.**

Hermione took a deep breath, she was about to spill her guts out to her would be brother-in-law and a boy, _man_, she hardly knew. Sighing she finally found the words she wanted to say.

"It all started when…"

**(A/N Thus begins the flashback scenes, from now on the chapters will be the flashback and if not I'll let you know in the A/N above.)**

It was a chilly sort of night, the air was moist and the ground was littered with rain drops. In a clearing in these woods, a small popping sound could be heard, then the thud of something heavy. Hermione Granger fell onto her laden trunk and brought her hands to her face.

"Hermione, are you alright?" a timid voice reached her ears, looking up she met the gaze of two great blue eyes that belong to a red-headed boy. "What happened is everything okay?" he sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

She had wanted to play it off as if nothing was going on, but her silent tears streaked down the already red cheeks and gave her away.

"M-my p-p-parents……gone….d-daughter!" was all Fred Weasley got out of the sentence but knew it was probably a bad situation. She cried into his chest and he stroked her back and whispered comforting thoughts.

They sat there in the woods for an hour. Hermione eventually dried her eyes with the help of the red-head who had shifted her onto his lap in an effort to calm her.

"Are you alright now?" he asked sweetly moving some of her hair out of her eyes.

"I'm fine now," she wiped the fluids off her face as footsteps echoed around them.

"Fred, are you still out here?" George stepped through the trees seeing his twin stroking the former bookworms arm. "What's going on?"

"George, Hermione was upset when she got here. I just held her and let her cry before we left for the house."

"Why are you upset Mione?" the other boy walked over and wrapped his strong arms around her.

"My parents don't remember they have a daughter. I replaced their memories and now they're living in Australia, that way they won't get hurt." She sniffled a bit.

"We're sorry Mione, this must be really hard for you." The boys picked up her things and led her out of the trees towards the Burrow.

"Hermione!" Ron yelled running towards her. "We were so worried about you."

"Thanks guys, I'm just really tired right now. I'd better get some sleep." She rubbed her eyes for emphasis. The twins looked at each other and smiled knowing she was lying. Subtly she nudged Fred in the side.

"We'll show you where you're sleeping Mione." They all nodded a silent good bye to each other and walked up the stairs. "You'll be staying in Charlie's old room, right across from ours, and you get it all to yourself!" Fred kept his arm around her shoulders as George threw his hands in the air.

The three reached a landing with two doors; the one on the left had a purple sign with yellow lettering reading "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes" the right door had a brilliant picture of a dragon breathing fire.

"This is where you'll be staying," they set down all her things.

"If you need anything-"

"-a glass of water-"

"-a plate of food-"

"-anything-"

"Just ask." They finished together.

"Thanks boys, I am kind of hungry though…" her stomach made a greedy noise.

"I'll go get you some food." George skipped out of the room and down to the kitchen.

"How are you holding up?" the remaining boy sat next to her on the bed.

"Better, thank you for holding me." She leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Well, George and I care, and just because you're our younger brother's brainy friend-"

"Fred," she sat up. "Get out." He stared in disbelief, after a moment he stood and walked across the hall looking back at a depressive Hermione. He finally entered his door and walked through, just then George came back with his food.

"Where's Fred?"

"I kicked him out." George looked confused. "He said I was brainy." If he looked confused before now he was on the brink of stupidity. "I hate being called brainy, I've been called that all my life and even as a joke I hate it because I'm intelligent but I've worked for it. I am Hermione Jane granger, not Harry Potter's girlfriend, or Harry's friend. I'm not that bushy haired girl that lives in the library, or the girl who knows everything."

"I'm sorry Mione. We never knew that you felt that way, you certainly don't look the way you did in you bookworm days. You're right, you have changed, a lot, and it shows. I'll make sure to tell Fred about this. Now enjoy your food and I'll see you in the morning." He kissed the top of her head in a brotherly fashion and closed the door as he left.

"Fred, you dolt, you could have completely ruined your chances!"


	4. My Angel and Demon

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. School has already taken control of my life. I've written most of this chapter during my history class though. Hope you enjoy it!

**Chapter 4: My Angel and Demon**

"I don't even know what I did!" Fred hissed back.

"You do realize that she's no long our little brother's book worm friend, right?"

"Of course,"

"Well then you should know, joke or not, she doesn't want to be referred to as such anymore. She's spent the past seven years as the Gryffindor book worm, and she's sick of it. They're out of school now, and she needs to be known as something other then that."

"You're right," Fred confessed resting his elbows on his knees. "I should go apologize."

"Good, and make sure you remind her about how good she looks!"

Fred quietly walked across the hall and tapped on the door, an aggravated sigh came from the other side. Hermione opened the door; a fixed glare marred her beautiful features. The boy leaned forward, the couples eyes never leaving the others gaze; finally he caught her lips with his.

"Hermione, you are gorgeous." The pair entered the bedroom still lip-locked.

George stood in the doorway of his own room smiling, turning to the stairs his smile grew.

"There ya go Gin; I'll be five sickles he doesn't return to his own bed until around dawn." He turned into his room and three soft pop sounds were heard. "What are you doing?" he asked confused.

The three others looked at each other. "Stake-out,"

"Well then, what are we going to do for the next few hours?"

"We could play a game," Ron suggested.

"Great, which one shall we play?"

"Never Have I Ever," Ginny conjured four goblets and two bottles of fire-whiskey.

"I'm not going to even ask why you have this stuff, let alone two bottles of it." Ron whispered as Harry cast a silencing charm on the door.

"Okay, so the game is played with one person saying something they have never done or had, if you have done what ever it is then you take a drink and explain if asked." They all nodded and elected Harry to begin.

"I have never had a brother." The Weasley's glared but drank anyway.

"I have never had a crush on a teacher." No one moved on Ginny's turn, then all three boys lifter their cups to their lips. "Wha- Who?!" The girl was appalled.

"You know that new vela teacher for astrology?" Ron asked.

"Enough said," Ginny stopped him. "Your turn Ron,"

"I have never had sex." George lifted his goblet for the third time in a row.

"Alicia Spinnet, summer after fourth year," the unasked questions didn't need to be spoken. "I have never cut my own hair." He sniggered as Ron turned red and drank.

The game went on for hours; everyone refilled their cups but not as frequently as Ginny. By the third refill everyone had given up on the game and started to just tell secrets. George has no shame, Ginny told minimal details, and Ron didn't talk at all.

Around four thirty in the morning Fred quietly exited Hermione's room, his sleeping girlfriend didn't need to get in trouble with Molly Weasley if she has found them in bed together. As soon as he opened the door to his room noise filled the hallway, running in a shutting the door hurriedly he saw the four drunk friends sitting on the floor.

"_What_ are you _doing_?" He yelled.

"Fred! Have a drink," Harry slurred.

Fred grabbed his sister's empty goblet and refilled it as she turned to George, "You owe me five sickles dear brother,"

"So, how was yer time wiff Mione?" Fred looked up. "I might be drunk, but if you hurt her in any way…"

"You'll kick my arse and hate me forever." Fred finished.

"Exactly! " Everyone started chuckling; soon they were all laughing hysterically as Harry had fallen backwards while trying to keep his laughter down.

"We better not tell Mione about this…she's an angel but with stuff like this she can be a right demon." George reminded them. Everyone silently agreed.

Eventually the three young ones left for their respective rooms and trying to be quiet in the process, Fred snickered as he heard Ron's voice mumble an 'Ow' as he stubbed his toe on something.

Everyone fell asleep quickly, and no one had noticed in their drunken state, that Fred had returned sans his shirt.

Across the hall, Hermione smiled in her sleep and snuggled into her boyfriend's quidditch jersey. It was the one he had planned on wearing to sleep that night, but decided it looked much better on her. The red and gold stripes made the red in her hair stand out even more. All-in-all, it was his way of showing her he really cared about her, and that he was willing to commit.

The next morning, Harry, Ginny, and Ron sat at the breakfast table with the twins who were enjoying their oatmeal more then they really should have. Ginny had claimed the biggest mug possible of black coffee and was slowly trying to nurse her headache.

"You do know that coffee is the worst thing for a hang over you could ever have right?" Fred interjected his sister's method.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked worriedly.

"The caffeine content is too high; it'll only make the headache worse." George added.

"And how come you aren't as bad as we are? You had just as much as we did!" Ron exclaimed.

"You should know by now little brother, alcohol doesn't affect Fred and me as much as it would you three. Do you remember the Yule ball in your fourth year, how the punch was spiked with so much fire whiskey that you could smell it from feet away?" George asked.

"That was you two?" Ginny mumbled. "I should have known…"

"I did know, I watched then do it." Harry assured her.

The sound of the staircase creaking made them all act interested in the breakfast before them, they all relaxed as Hermione walked into the room.

"Didn't bother to change at all this morning did you, love?" Fred asked a smile taking over his face.

"Didn't feel the need to," she added eating some of his food. Mrs. Weasley found this was the most opportune moment to walk into the kitchen, but was startled to find all the children were already there.

"Why are you all up so early?" she asked.

"Not really sure, maybe it's because we just weren't very tired." Ron shrugged.

"And Hermione, are you wearing Fred's shirt?" Everyone looked at the brunette and noticed for the first time what she was wearing. The red and gold striped shirt was too long on her but fit her nicely otherwise. Two beater bats and a bludger were stitched on the back and underneath in black letters read F. WEASLEY.

"Yeah, that's mine mum." Fred assured her, and then looked to Mione who nodded only slightly. "Hermione and I are pleased to announce that we are now dating." Molly clapped her hands together and ran to the new couple.

"That's adorable, you two should get out of the house today. Why don't you go to Diagon Alley for a bit on your own?" the woman's eyes glistened with un-cried tears of joy and happiness. Her bachelor son had finally found himself a respectable girl.

"Would you like that Mione?" she smiled at Fred and nodded. "Well then I guess we should start to get ready." Fred stood up and kissed the top of her head. "I'm going to take a shower,"

"Hermione dear, what would you like for breakfast? You can eat then take a shower after Fred." Molly made up scrambled eggs for the girl.

"Ginny, are you alright? You look a bit pale…"

"I'm fine mum, just woke up feeling a bit sick." Ginny hadn't taken a sip of the coffee since it really had made her hangover worse. Hermione silently passed her a vial of pepper-up potion while Molly had he back turned. "Thanks," the redhead mumbled before drinking it straight down.

Fred got out of the shower and headed to his bedroom in nothing but a towel. He picked out another of his quidditch shirts and black trousers. He heard the shower turn on again as he pulled the shirt over his wet hair, and headed back down to the kitchen.

"You can't go out with your girlfriend with wet hair!" Molly scolded.

"Why not, it'll dry anyway."

"Because I said so," Mrs. Weasley retorted as she raised her wand and silently dried her sons orange hair.

"Already to go, Fred?" Hermione asked walking up next to her boyfriend.

"Absolutely," waving good-bye to his family he led her to the fire place and grabbed a hand full of floo powder.

"Diagon Alley!"


	5. The World, the Moon

**A/N I know you hate me! But school and the other three stories I'm working on are still on the agenda. But I had an idea for this chapter so I hope you enjoy it. And Happy Thanksgiving!**

**Chapter 5: ****The World, the moon**

Fred and Hermione walked through the alley with grins permanently on their faces. The night before had been amazing to say the least. Not that they had had sex or anything, they wouldn't do anything _that_ stupid. But needless to say, Fred was excellent at snogging a girl's brain out.

"Ah, mudblood, I see that you've ditched the weasel for one of his many worthless brothers." A cold voice drawled behind them.

"Malfoy, just because I actually enjoy my life doesn't mean you can just come along and ruin it." Hermione answered coolly.

"How can you enjoy your life with this loser when he doesn't have any money to buy you nice things?" He moved closer and whispered only so she could hear. "If you came with me, I could give you the world, the moon, anything you wanted."

"Well here's something I want," she answered smoothly. "I want you to leave me and my friends alone." She glared at him after backing away. Knowing when to back off, Draco Malfoy nodded his head towards the Weasley twin and bowed a bit to Hermione.

"What was that all about?" Fred asked; his ear still pink.

"Malfoy was talking rubbish about how if I was to date him I could have anything I wanted. So I told him to leave my friends and I alone, apparently he complied." Her voice was lined with shock and questioning the situation.

"Let's just leave it be, love." Fred took her small hand in his and led the way towards the book shop.

Fred walked through the shop searching for his girlfriend; he had already found the book he needed and now he needed to pry her away from everything around her. Except for him of course.

"Fred, what book is that?" she took it from his hand and looked at the title. It was Zonko's Autobiography, his key to success. She nodded, knowing how appropriate it was for him.

"Are you ready to go?" she nodded, as Fred paid for his book she stole a glance outside and noticed a boy staring at her from across the street. Dark hair that hung into his indigo eyes slightly, she knew him, but from where?

* * *

As the pair prepared for their apparition back to the Burrow Fred smiled and grabbed his girlfriend's arm. They appeared in a small room a moment later, it was made out of wood, a small almost threadbare carpet took up some of the floor, and a small mattress inhabited the corner.

"Fred, where are we?"

"We, are in the tree house my dad built Ginny when we all went to Hogwarts." He wrapped his arms around her waist. "And we; are going to spend some time together before retreating back into the house full of prying eyes." Hermione giggled, Fred smiled, and Mrs. Weasley (who was sitting in the kitchen) looked at the clock and noticed that Fred and Hermione (Who had been added to the clock along with Harry the previous year) had returned home.

Fred lowered his head to meet Hermione's and covered her pink lips with his own in a passionate kiss. Fred picked her up and pinned her against the wall of the tree house, as Hermione wrapped her legs around his waist. Her hand travelled up the chiseled chest of the man before her and suddenly his shirt was on the floor. His abs were defined enough to be sexy but not rock hard, his strong arms held her small body up with ease. She pulled his face to hers for another heat filled kiss, licking his bottom lip slightly and gaining entrance with her tongue.

Fred Weasley was never as aroused as when the formerly known "book worm" got rough with him. He decided to return the favor and started grinding his hips into hers, and smiled hearing a soft moan. Hermione Granger untangled her fingers from his hair and took off the shirt she was wearing revealing a lacy black bra. Obviously his boldness was rubbing off on her.

An hour later the couple returned to the kitchen, hand in hand, looking like they had never ravished each other about 100 yards away.

"How was your day out dears?" Mrs. Weasley asked while stirring the beef stew.

"Brilliant, I even bought a book!" Fred cheered. Mrs. Weasley could have had a heart attack.

"It's about Zonko though, so it doesn't count." Hermione interjected, Fred laughed and ran upstairs. Hermione followed and found him waiting in the hall for her, "Midnight then?"

"Of course, there are still things left unfinished." Fred kissing her lightly on the lips before disappearing into their respective rooms, he was the happiest man alive.


	6. The Tree House

**A/N AHHHH!!! I'm sorry for the delay of updates, school and everything is taking my time away from ****fanfiction**** Anyway, happy holidays, and I hope 2008 is better for you than 2007 ever could have been.**

**Chapter 6: The Tree House  
**

Dinner at the Burrow that night was just as rowdy and noisy. Bill and Fleur had come for dinner missing the taste of a good home-cooked meal. The twins were trying to sneak some new potion into Ron's drink but Harry saw them every time. Ginny was trying not to talk to Harry about something, Ron was busy interrupting everything she said, Mrs. Weasley proudly scanned her children at the table.

"You know Hermione, I think I have a book in the house you would like," Mr. Weasley said to the young girl. "Would you like to take a look at it?" He wanted her inside for some reason, probably to talk away from everyone's prying ears.

"Of course I would." The pair walked away from the table on the lawn and into the sitting room. "So why did you really bring me in here?"

"You really are to smart for your age," Arthur confessed with a smile. "Hermione, all of my boys were raised the same way I was. Respect a woman as your equal, let her make her own decisions and let her be her own person, but make her yours forever in your heart." He sat on the couch indicating that she could sit next to him. "Out of all of them Bill and Charlie were the ones who actually listened to me the most, but now that Fred has you he's beginning to show a side of him that no other girl has brought out."

"And what side is that exactly?"

"Well, he can't wipe that silly grin off his face, and all day he's been nothing but a gentleman not only to you but to Molly and Ginny. I walked in on him reading a book today; I mean Fred Weasley has never read a book in his life." Hermione smiled as the man she considered a second father explained how shocked he was. "Hermione, I've known that Fred has fancied you for a long while, and I'm glad that now he gets to express that openly and not talk to me or George while trying to figure things out."

Hermione found herself in a warm, sincere hug. "I just want to thank you Hermione, for being who you are and bringing the best of people out into the world."

"You're welcome," she mumbled.

Fred noticed when his girlfriend returned empty handed with her father who had taken her in for a book ten minutes ago.

"Have fun talking?" he whispered in her ear.

"How did you know?" he opened his hand revealing a flesh colored piece of string. "Extendable Ears, when are you going to stop spying on other people conversations?"

"When I stop knowing they're about me." He smirked at her and snatched a chaste kiss before running off for a game of quidditch.

"I'll help with the dishes Mrs. Weasley." She offered. Once the table was cleared The Weasley patriarchs, Bill, Fleur, and Charlie who had been injured the week prior at the reserve, retreated to the sitting room with tea.

It was well after dark when the group returned to the house dirty, sweaty, smelly, and a couple bruised.

"What happened?!?" Molly screamed, running to heal the cut on George's forehead.

"Just a minor collision while in midair and battling for the quaffle." Ron answered, it was obvious it had been more then a 'minor collision'. Fred took this time to come sit in between Bill and Hermione.

"Fred you're all sweaty get away from me! Cuddle with Bill or something," Fred then reached around and draped himself across his eldest brother making Fleur shrink away from them. Bill promised a broken leg if he didn't get off, so Fred ran upstairs to shower before he had the chance. Of course this was after he shook his hair of any and all dirty and twigs.

Bill turned to the brunette. "So Hermione, why are you with him again?"

Fifteen minutes passed and Fred exited the bathroom allowing Ginny to take her shower. There was a line of everyone who had played, Ron was at the end. _Serves him right for being a prat for so many years_. That was beside the point, it was ten thirty, he could read a few chapters out of his Zonko biography and then meet his lovely girlfriend in the tree house.

**A/N: I'm having a senile moment that just happens to be blocking my ray of sunshine for this fic, so if anyone has any ideas please message me or review and let me know! **


	7. War of the Worlds

**A/N: AHH! It's been so long, school's started but I'll try to update more often.**

**Chapter 7: War of the Worlds**

After his shower, Fred had read a few chapters of his book, threw all his dirty laundry in the hamper, said good night to George, and brushed his teeth. He apparated into the tree house ten minutes until midnight and lit the one candle he brought with him.

The moon shone brightly through the window that had a lovely view of the lake below, not that either of them would notice much tonight. He was still looking at the water when a soft popping sound rang out through the silence.

"Hello, love." Fred said turning towards his girlfriend and stopping suddenly.

"What?" She asked. Her hair fell in light natural curls down her back and she was wearing a tank top and a pair of boxer shorts. "Is something wrong?" She asked when Fred hadn't said anything.

"No, absolutely nothing is wrong." He smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I'm just here with the most beautiful woman on the planet."

"You know, no matter how much you sweet talk I'm not doing everything you ask." She poked his chest. "Like, I won't have sex with you until I'm ready no matter how much sugar coating you put on it."

"Darling, I'm not going to push you into anything. Except maybe the wall but even then there will be kissing involved." He smiled again and covered Hermione's lips in a gentle kiss.

The red head ran his hands down Hermione's backside and grasped onto her legs lifting her off the ground. She got the hint and wrapped her legs around his waist only to be set back down on the book shelf against the wall she hadn't seen until now.

Her small fingers wound their way into Fred's shaggy ginger hair while his mouth made its way down to her neck. He started nipping and sucking lightly on the smooth flesh, where he left small marks that could only be seen if one looked closely enough.

Hermione reached down and lifted the shirt over his head exposing his toned chest again. Fred returned the favor with the tank top revealing Hermione's breasts, her erect nipples and creamy skin. He took one of the nipples into his mouth as his hand massaged the other causing Hermione to moan softly.

Eventually Hermione grabbed her boyfriend's face and kissed him with so much passion that it startled him slightly. Again he picked her up and set her gently down on the mattress laying on top of her but making sure not the crush her.

"This will never work," she said smirking as Fred started kissing her neck again. She got out from under the red-head and flipped him on his back.

He smiled when she straddled his hips and kissed her again running his tongue along her lower lip. She parted her lips slightly and Fred entered her mouth exploring every part of it and even playing with her tongue a bit.

He groaned as she started grinding her hips into his again and could feel his erection growing.

"I can't be held responsible for what's going to happen if you keep doing that." He growled out in her ear.

"As long as it's not sex," she said her voice just as thick with lust.

His cool hand held her back as he skillfully flipped her over and started to shimmy the boxer shorts off her hips. He tossed them over with the rest of the clothes and started kissing up her long legs.

His erection was full grown now and there was no way he was going to hide it. He moved his lips to her nipples and then down her flat stomach.

"Take off your shorts." she said, finally both were only left with minimal clothing and the snogging continued.

The next morning at breakfast Fred and Hermione were sitting together and sharing shy smiles.

"What's got you two so happy?" a cranky Ron asked sitting opposite them and filling his plate with everything on the table.

"It's a beautiful day," Hermione replied.

"I think we should play quidditch later." George said looking around at the rest of his family.

Ginny, Harry, and Ron instantly woke up and started eating as much of their food they could possibly fit into their mouths. Ginny however, looked up and caught Hermione's eye, they had known each other long enough that the brunette knew what her younger friend was thinking and nodded to her. Simultaneously George caught his twin's eye and both pairs agreed on the same thing. Ginny and George would know all about what happened last night after their quidditch game.

Breakfast continued without Ron or Harry knowing about the silent conversations. The boys kept arguing about the best keepers and chasers and the best teams, a conversation which continued all the way to the make-shift pitch the Weasley's had made. After Hermione and Harry had started coming to the Burrow over the holidays, Mr. Weasley had picked up a muggle picnic table and set it near the pitch so Hermione could enjoy a book while not sitting in the mud.

The table had been used so much that the legs were almost half way consumed by the mud and grass had started to grow around it. Mr. Weasley had been kind enough to put a water-proofing charm over the wood so it wouldn't mold and break when the boys came to collect her.

Today, when they all left for the pitch, Hermione brought a classic novel with her. _Othello_ by Shakespeare was grasped firmly in her left hand while the other was linked with Fred's.

When Fred mounted his broom he gave her a kiss on the lips and shot into the air. Hermione sat on the table and opened the book to her page. She was about half way through the book when she heard a commotion from the pitch. Ginny was screaming and she could hear George yell to her, what was he saying? She couldn't quite understand.

"Hermione run back to the house, now!" He flew above her with his wand out. "Run now Hermione! You need to get dad out here!"

Without thinking she dropped her book on the ground and ran towards the house, she saw Mrs. Weasley's horrified face as she saw the girl running through the window. The woman's face went red as she screamed to her husband who flew through the door with his wand at the ready.

"Get down, Hermione!" He yelled and she fell to the ground. The man who had been chasing her crumpled down behind her from the stunning spell Mr. Weasley had sent his way.

"Sectu-_Sectumsempra_." The fallen man's rattling voice spoke out and immediately Hermione screamed.

**A/N: Bwahaha! I love cliff hangers. I'll start writing the next chapter as soon as I study for my classes!**

** War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells**


	8. War of the Roses

**A/N: I'm on a writing roll! Enjoy…**

**Chapter 8: War of the Roses**

"AHH!" Hermione's voice rang out as she screamed, the invisible blades cutting into her skin. Her blood was pooling around her and she writhed around on the ground. She faintly heard a soft pop and feeling the familiar pull behind her navel she opened her mouth to scream again.

"Severus, could you clean up this mess before it stains." A cold voice said as she was dropped on the stone floor, blood still racing out of her wounds. Suddenly she felt a cold, firm hand on her forehead and heard a singing sound. The bleeding stopped along with the intense pain.

"Who is this?" The rigid voice asked. "Is this Potter's girlfriend?"

Hermione, who was fighting for her breath shook her head. "I-I'm not Harry's girlfriend." She whispered, Professor Snape still kneeling at her head. She might have been hallucinating from the blood-loss but she thought Snape had shaken his head the tiniest fraction, a sign for her to shut up. Obliging, Hermione concentrated on breathing more then anything.

"Take her to the guest room in the South wing, she can rest up there and we can interrogate later." She heard the clicking of expensive shoes across the stone floor as the man walked out of the room.

"Levicorpus," Snape muttered making his student hover in front of him as he took her to the guest room. "You'll be alright Hermione." He said setting her on the bed softly. "I'll make sure of that." He said summoning a glass of water to her bedside table he left without another word.

Hermione pondered his words before falling into a deep sleep.

"HERMIONE!" Harry yelled from his broom as he shot a bat-boggey hex at someone below him. Suddenly he was fighting with more energy, flying around he noticed Ron was red in the face, as well as George. Ginny was sending curse after curse flying towards the cloaked men her red hair was flying around her with her own energy.

Flying towards the Burrow Harry jumped off his broom and ran into the house where Mrs. Weasley was hitting someone over the head with her cast iron frying pan, the hot oil simultaneously flying out and hitting another man in the face. When those guys had apparated away the matriarch of the Weasley's ran over to Harry and hugged him. "Hermione's gone, they took her away." She told him, tears running down her rosy cheeks.

"Where's Mr. Weasley?" Harry asked out of breath.

"He's at the ministry, when he saw Hermione being taken he apparated himself to the Aurors."

"And Fred?" Harry asked.

"He was chasing one of them around to the other side of the house last I saw, Arthur told me not to leave the house though." She wiped away the tears furiously.

Suddenly Kingsley, Tonks, and several other figures apparated into the yard and started firing off protection spells. Tonks sent her patronus to find the rest of the Weasley's around the yard and within seconds the four were in the kitchen. Fred had a gash down his arm, Ron's hair was a mess as he held an obviously broken arm close to his chest, and Ginny ran towards Harry hugging him just as her mother had. George sat down at the table his head in his hands as he took deep breaths trying to calm him self.

Kingsley looked around the room and counted the heads quickly including Arthur as he popped back in. "There's one missing." He said with a low, shocked voice.

"Where's Hermione?" Tonks asked getting hysterical.

Snape opened the door to the guest room in Malfoy Manor, Draco following behind him. Hermione stirred in the half-sleep state but didn't open her eyes.

"How is she Sev?" The young blond asked in a hushed voice.

"She's living," the man replied. "That's all that really matters right now. But we need to get her better so that the Dark Lord can get answers from her." He walked over to the bed and brushed back the curls from Hermione's neck exposing pink scars.

"What answers are they going to get from her? I mean they won't even let Potter into the Order." Draco said still speaking quietly.

"Yes, but she lives with the Weasley's and Potter most of the time. She goes there for the summer, goes to school with them, and leaves her real family for them." Snape shook his head and sighed.

The young Malfoy stood staring at the healing marks on her pale flesh. "Do you really think she'll say anything, she's the most stubborn of them all?"

"I'm not sure, but for right now we've got to hope she doesn't." Severus said. "Can you hand me that potion on the table?" Draco reached over the grabbed it lightly handing it to his godfather.

"What will this one do?" He asked watching as he poured it down her throat.

"Hopefully it'll heal the rest of her wounds." He capped the vial and pulled another out of the pocket of his robes. "And this one will keep her in an unconscious state so the Dark Lord can't get into her mind."

"So it puts up a brick wall around her mind while keeping her asleep?" Snape nodded as he vanished the bottle and started towards the door.

"Let's go report to your father that there are no changes in her yet." Hermione could hear them close the door and walk down the hallway until she drifted off into her dreamless sleep.

Tonks, Mrs. Weasley, and Ginny were all sitting on the couch holding each others hands trying to comfort the other.

"We're going to find her, but first we need to make a list of potential places they would take her." Kingsley said pacing in front of the fire place.

"Well, he could have taken her to death eater's house." George said from the floor.

"Who would he trust enough to make their house headquarters?"

"Whose house would be big enough?" Ron said. "He would want a mansion." Suddenly Ron and Harry looked at each other.

"Malfoy Manor!" They said together.

"That's where they took her! It has to be!" Harry said pacing just like Kingsley. "It's the only place big enough for everyone, plus Voldemort's giant ego and it has multiple rooms to keep people in for interrogations!"

The older members of the group stood at the boys, but it was Tonks that finally spoke. "Well that was way too obvious for us."

That night Fred and George were lying in their beds staring at the ceiling.

George turned on his side towards his twin. "How're you holding up?" He asked in a quiet voice.

"Just peachy, my family is attacked, quidditch game ruined, and my girlfriend is kidnapped and possibly being tortured as we speak." He said the venom in his voice filling the air with anger. George flipped on his back and stared at the ceiling knowing there was nothing he could say that would make his brother feel better.

"I'm sorry George, I'm just really angry right now, and worried about Hermione." Fred sighed.

"We all are Fred, just remember that."


	9. Plans

**A/N: School's out finally!!! Here's another chapter!**

**Chapter 9: Plans**

When dawn came Fred sat up in his bed, he hadn't slept at all and instead had listened to George toss and turn all night.

Pulling on his old quidditch jersey he tip toed out of the room and down into the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley was busy cooking eggs for her husband, Ron, Harry, and the aurors who had appeared the night before.

"Morning Fred," Tonks said sipping her coffee. "How did you sleep?"

"I didn't." He said simply taking his own mug and filling it with coffee as his mother looked at him with sad eyes. Her second daughter had been kidnapped; her family had been attacked and had stayed up all hours of the night hoping she would turn up.

Fred gulped some of his coffee and looked at the faces around the room. "Are there any leads?" he asked watching Kingsley shake his head no.

"We can't find anyone who will go into Malfoy Manor, and we can't get a hole of Snape to see if he knows anything." Tonks elaborated.

Suddenly the fire in the family room turned green. "Hello? Is anyone there?" Fred, Ron, and Harry jumped up and ran out to see the eldest Weasley child's face.

"Hey Bill." Ron said. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

"They're letting me come in late, they heard about what happened and wanted to make sure I would be ok to actually do stuff today." He shrugged and turned to Fred. "How're you kid?"

It was Fred's turn to shrug. "I just hope she's ok, I mean I know she can take care of herself…but against _Him_?" next to him, Harry shuddered.

"Hang in there guys, Hermione's a strong girl. She'll be home before you know it." With a wave he was gone and the three turned towards the kitchen.

"Finally, I thought I'd never get through to you guys." Ron turned around and his mouth fell open.

"Malfoy?!" He yelled, suddenly there were chairs scraping against the floor and four pairs of feet running towards the fire.

Kingsley reached in the fire and pulled the young Malfoy through to the living room making him land on his bum.

"Expelliarmus!" Tonks yelled catching the wand and keeping hers level with the blond head.

"Whoa, whoa! I called you remember?!" He yelled staying where he was. "I had to sneak out of my manor to do it too!" Everyone in the room eased up a bit and Ron knelt down.

"You tell us what you know, _right now_, or I will kill you in the most inhumane way possible." His ears were throbbing with all the blood rushing to them.

Draco nodded. "Alright." He looked at Mrs. Weasley. "Would you mind terribly if I had some tea?"

"Of course, let's all move to the kitchen." She walked in front of everyone and as soon as Draco sat down the mug of steaming tea appeared in front of him.

"Thank you," he said sipping it. "Now, I don't have much time before I need to go back to the Manor. Snape sent me out for potion ingredients, but I had my personal elf go for them and I came here instead."

"Snape is at the Manor with you?" Kingsley asked.

"Yeah, he's there along with loads of death eaters, and the Dark Lord." He finished his tea. "As well as Hermione, who is still alive." Everyone let out a sigh of relief. "Snape and I fixed all her injuries and we're keeping her in a dreamless sleep using a potion that is undetectable in the body but keeps the Dark Lord from reading her mind."

"So she's safe from harm, and no one can read her mind while she's asleep?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Right, we're keeping her that way until we think she's strong enough to deal with him, also we've taken a wand that looks and works exactly like hers, that's the one my father is holding onto. Snape has her real wand so she can at least fight back, and when that happens we're going to say she tricked us and that we had no idea."

"That's not a bad idea, Malfoy." Harry said. "Who knew that you would care so much about Hermione?"

"It's not her I care about directly, Potter. It's the entire wizarding world. I want the Dark Lord, and my father taken down." Fred nodded and walked over to the window.

"So, what do we do now?" He asked.

"You wait. I'll send some form of a signal to you when it's time to fight, but for now you just need to trust me and Sev to get your friend back to health and out of harm's way for as long as we can."

Everyone in the room nodded and Draco stood. "Thank you for the tea Mrs. Weasley, now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to the manor before anyone finds out I've been missing." With that he went to the fire place and walked into the green flames, probably back to his giant basement kitchen.

Draco walked towards the pile of ingredients on the counter.

"Good work, Miffy." He said grabbing them and apparating to his room where Severus Snape was sitting. "I've got the ingredients." Malfoy informed him.

"And what about the other thing?" Snape asked looking over the purchases.

"It's all done, they know what's going on and I told them to stay put until I give them some sort of sign." Draco said. "They have Shacklebolt and Tonks in the house at all times, they're all safe."

"Good, we can't afford any more injuries." Snape said grabbing a few vials and walking over towards the closet opening it exposing a giant cauldron bubbling with his latest potion for Hermione.

"What's this one do again?" Draco asked looking over the dark mans shoulder.

"It makes her feel little to no pain, I'm making enough for the three of us." After adding what he needed to, Snape backed away and closed the door. "It's a good thing your father never comes in here." He added. "Or this entire wing of the house for that matter."

"Makes for some fun times though," Draco admitted. "There's so much you can do without them knowing." He smirked.

"I can only assume." He shook his greasy head. "Let's go check on Granger."


	10. The Letter

**Chapter 10: The Letter**

"_NOOOOO!" Hermione reached her hand out towards her parents trying to keep them from being taken away. The Death Eaters holding the incapacitated bodies started laughing as they apparated on the spot._

Then she woke up.

"Calm down!" came another voice to her left. "Do you want Lucius and the Dark Lord to know you've woken up?"

"Professor Snape?" the man nodded. "Where am I?"

"Malfoy Manor, in Draco's wing of the house and we're trying to keep you from getting killed." He hissed the last few words. "In case you forgot the Dark Lord attacked the Weasley's house and you were seriously injured. I was put in charge of keeping you alive and Draco has been helping."

Hermione sighed and leaned back into her pillow. "You said Malfoy has been helping you keep me alive?"

Snape nodded again and picked up a goblet of water. "Here, drink this."

_Malfoy has been keeping me alive? But if I'm in the Manor then Voldemort could have come in at any time and killed me!_

"How is she?" A soft voice from behind Snape grabbed Hermione's attention and she turned her head towards the door.

"I'm fine Malfoy, thank you." She replied not remembering the door ever opening.

"I went to the Weasley's house and told them everything we were doing. They were obviously kind of upset that I was even there but when I mentioned that you were alright." He reached in the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a vial for Snape. "I guess taking her out of the dreamless sleep went well," he continued. "Looks like she'll be strong enough when she gets some food."

"Dreamless sleep?" Hermione asked trying to sit up and failing. "I guess that's why I only remember having a dream right before I woke up."

Draco walked around the bed and offered his hand. Hermione took it and sat up with the blonde's help.

"I guess you're a little confused aren't you?" He asked sitting at the foot of the bed. Hermione nodded. "Well, I know I've always put on that façade about becoming a Death Eater but I honestly want them to get taken down and want Potter to kill the Dark Lord."

Hermione took another sip of the water. "I guess I would feel the same way."

Fred rolled out of bed after another night of no sleep. Pulling on a shirt he walked into the bathroom and pulled some pepper-up potion out of the cabinet and downed it.

"Fred, why don't you actually try sleeping?" Ginny said from the doorway.

"Because I just can't." he responded. "It's difficult getting a good night's sleep while my girlfriend is being held captive at Malfoy Manor by You-Know-Who and Merlin only knows if Malfoy is telling the truth or not! Maybe he's just giving us false hope and Mione's already dead!"

"Maybe we should go down to the kitchen and get some breakfast before you start with your conspiracy theories." The youngest red head turned and walked down the stairs leaving Fred there by himself.

"Did he listen to you at all?" Mrs. Weasley whispered as Ginny arrived in the kitchen.

"He might've, if only a little bit though." Ginny said picking up her fork and shoving eggs into her mouth with much more grace than Ron could ever hope for.

Fred shuffled his way into the kitchen and slid his way onto the bench next to Ginny at the table. "What's for breakfast?" He asked his mother who spooned eggs and potatoes onto a plate and handed it to him. After shoving a few forkfuls into his mouth Fred smiled "I'm gonna miss this when I eventually move out." He said taking a sip of the juice his mother had set in front of him as well.

"But you know that if you live close enough mum's going to have us over at least once a week." Ginny said.

"Just to make sure we're all still alive." Fred responded.

George walked into the room and sat down. "And she'll stop by our houses or work if we don't show up or even send a letter."

"Oh, shut up you three!" Molly said throwing her dishtowel towards the table with a smile on her face. "Even though we all know it's the truth." The four in the room erupted with laughter.

Fred sat there and smiled with his family, but that didn't stop him from thinking about Hermione.

"Severus, how is the Granger girl?" Voldemort's voice was chilling, even to Snape.

"She is not yet strong enough to properly be questioned, My Lord." He answered, not bothering to block his mind. "After a few days of eating a proper meal and rest she should be alright."

"How long is a few days?" Voldemort asked.

"About two weeks." Snape blocked his mind with a false memory.

"I'll allow it. Severus, go fetch young master Malfoy I must ask him something." Snape nodded and left the room.

Turning a corner Snape almost ran into Draco. "In the room, now." Draco allowed himself to be pushed into the nearest room by his mentor. "The Dark Lord has asked me to get you and take you back to his chamber. Apparently, he has a question he would like to ask you."

Draco's face drained all color (if that was even possible). "What do I do?"

"Remember everything I taught you. Block your mind and never falter with the wall no matter what, the Dark Lord will say things to surprise you so expect anything and everything. And most of all be careful." Snape rested his hands on the boys shoulders before letting him leave the room.

"What if he isn't careful?" the man let out an almost inaudible sigh.

"There's a chance he could slip up and be punished." Hermione's eyes grew wider with fear.

"Is there a chance I could write a letter?" She asked taking a sip of water.

_Dear Mrs. Weasley,_

_Before you ask, I'm fine. Snape and Malfoy have been making sure I've been eating well and getting enough rest as well as trying to prepare me for what could happen when I'm finally taken to get questioned. I'm really going to owe them both a lot by the time I get out of here. I hope that everyone in the house can understand what I mean when I say that. There two have been keeping me alive and making sure I'm ready to take on whatever comes my way in the very near future. _

_I should probably end this although I wish it could be longer._

_Hope to see you all soon,_

_Hermione_

"What do you mean she wishes we could understand?" Ron roared after the letter had been read to everyone. "These are people that we have hated since day one of meeting them and she wants us to help her repay them for something they could potentially be doing just to hurt her even more!"

"RON! SHUT UP!" Fred stood up. "We are all worried about her but if she says she's alright then we just have to trust _her_ right now."

"What if someone else wrote the letter?" Ron asked back his ears turning pink.

Fred picked it up. "Look at it! You have seen Hermione's handwriting so many times; you tell me if someone else wrote it."

"He's right Ron, its Hermione's handwriting. She does that thing with her f's remember?" Harry said taking the letter and looking it over.

The room got quiet as the realization hit everyone, and then the fire turned green.

Hermione handed Snape the letter before he left the room to send it off. A few minutes later the door reopened and Draco walked in.

"What happened?" Hermione sat up and crossed her legs making room for him to sit on her bed.

"He tried to get into my head until I finally let him in on a fake memory I created that Snape and I sent a letter to Potter yesterday saying that everything was fine here and you were making a full recovery." Hermione's eyes grew wide. "What?" Malfoy asked.

"I sent a letter to them today saying that I was fine." Hermione said in a small voice. "I think we might be screwed."

Snape threw the door open. "It's time." He said.


	11. Time

**Chapter 11: Time**

"What do you mean it's time?" Draco stood by the bed confused. "I thought he agreed to two more weeks for a full recovery?"

Snape didn't seem to be paying too much attention as he was packing away his vials and vanishing them. "He obviously has other plans, like trying to use Miss Granger's frail body and mind to his advantage. Not to mention the letter situation and I'm almost certain he knows that we have been helping her Draco."

Hermione tried to stand with Draco's help but couldn't do it. "How are we supposed to take her to the Dark Lord in this state?" the blonde asked frantically. "We have to do something!"

The brunette sat there, for the first time in her life she didn't have a plan.

"Draco, you're going to have to help her get to the chamber. From then on you must let her try to walk by herself. You must not show any emotion and keep your mind blocked. Granger, there hasn't been much time for me to prepare you for this but try to keep a brick wall in your mind. Do not let the Dark Lord get past that wall and into your thoughts or everyone you know is in danger." Snape rambled on in a hushed voice.

The pair nodded, and proceeded to make their way to the chamber having to stop frequently for Hermione to rest.

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

Fred sat outside under the oak tree pulling at the blades of grass around him. He was there for about an hour before his mom came out and sat with him.

"I know this is difficult for you Fred, but Hermione is a very intelligent woman and if anyone can make it through something like this: she can." All Fred could do was nod as his mother rubbed his arm, neither noticing the owl that shot across the sky towards the house.

"I just can't stand knowing where she is and not knowing if she's alright."

"FRED! FRED, HURRY WE HAVE TO GO!" George yelled running towards his twin. "We just got a letter from Snape. They're taking Hermione to _Him_ right now," Fred jumped up and the twins ran back to the house and met up with Ron and Harry in the sitting room.

"We're going to have to apparate to the gate, Ron and I will hide under the cloak while the two of you use disillusion charms. Snape told us how to get into the manor and how to get to Voldemort's chamber from there." After everyone knew the plan they all vanished from the Burrow arriving in front of the giant manor.

Harry pulled out the cloak and pulled it over him and Ron while the twins disillusioned themselves, then they slipped past the gate and ran up the walk way to the side of the house. They came to a window that had been propped open and crawled through.

"Where to now, Harry?" Fred asked.

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

Eventually Hermione and Draco arrived outside the door. "Remember what Snape said." The boy said taking a deep breath and preparing his mental block. When he was sure they were both ready he knocked twice on the door which then opened.

"Ah, Miss Granger how good to see you," her ears were filled with the snakelike voice of the man she hated more than anything. "I hear you have made quite a recovery these past few weeks. I am pleased to hear it; however I do have some questions for you." He played with his wand a bit. "Unfortunately, if you don't answer these questions truthfully you will suffer the consequences."

_He's really enjoying this._ She thought instantly making herself feel sick. "And what are the consequences?" She asked bravely.

"We both know the answer to that question, Miss Granger. You are a very intelligent girl for a mudblood," The man smirked at the word he knew would sting. "So explain to me why Potter always happens to get lucky when he and I fight and I cannot kill him."

"It's not that he's lucky, it's that he's better than you." She knew what would happen as she spoke, but it didn't matter. "You know just as well as I do, _Tom,_ that Harry has the skill to beat you and eventually kill you."

"CRUCIO!" Voldemort yelled, pointing his wand at the grinning girl. "HARRY POTTER WILL _NEVER_ BEAT ME. I AM LORD VOLDEMORT!" Hermione gasped for breath as the curse ended.

"No, you're Tom Riddle." She went on defiantly knowing that Malfoy probably wanted to tell her to shut up. "You're no Lord and even worse you're not even a pure-blood!"

"CRUCIO!"

Hermione threw up this time. "Your father was a muggle, so this 'cause' you're fighting for makes you the biggest hypocrite!"

"CRUCIO!"

"All you do is sit back and send your minions out to do all your dirty work because you don't have any extraordinary magical skills. You've made a name that terrifies people and that's the only thing that gives you an edge."

"CRUCIO!" Hermione's face hit the stone floor full force as her body convulsed with the anger in the curse. She had really pissed him off and now there was no going back. After five minutes of screaming she stayed put glancing up towards Malfoy who didn't even look in her direction on the floor.

"Tell me how Potter always seems to do fool's tasks and ends up beating me every time." The translucent man demanded calmly, as if he hadn't just attacked a defenseless and hurt girl for pointing out his biggest flaw.

"Harry does things that he knows will help get rid of you in the end and every time he gets a little bit closer to actually beating you." She couldn't help herself, the insults just kept pouring out of her mouth before she could stop and think. "The only reason he never actually gets a chance is because something happens and you get an opening to retreat like the coward you are!"

"You stupid girl," Voldemort strolled towards her. "You really don't know when it's time for you to _shut up_ and realize that you are the inferior race."

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

The boys stumbled around the corridors lit only by their wands, making sure not to make much noise and never talking.

They had been walking for almost twenty minutes now and hadn't even left the basement part of the mansion.

"Alright, I see some light coming from under this door maybe it leads upstairs." Harry said grabbing the knob and twisting it slowly. The door opened without a sound and Fred let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, looking through the door way he noticed a set of stairs.

"I'll go first," He offered, they couldn't risk losing Harry because they didn't know what was waiting at the top of a set of stairs. He tiptoed up the stone trying not to make any noise and doing a fairly good job of it so far. "Nox," the light from his wand went out but he kept it in his hand.

There was no door at the top of the stairs, just an opening in the wall that led to a part of the mansion. Poking his head out of the hole he looked both ways and held his breath as a pair of death eaters strolled past.

"-heard he's questioning the mudblood in his chamber right now with Malfoy junior watching." One of the men said; cause Fred to catch his breath.

"Did you hear that?" The smaller of the two death eaters stopped and looked around trying to listen for another noise. "Sounds like it came from down here," they back tracked to the staircase Fred was standing in.

"Let's go check it out," the other man said. Fred pressed himself against the wall hoping neither of the men would bump into him as they passed.

"Petrificus totalus!" George's voice echoed up to his twins' ears as well as Harry's.

"We took their wands," George whispered apparently standing next to his brother followed by two other sets of footsteps.

"Voldemort has Hermione in some sort of room and is torturing her right now!" The four had started walking down the corridor when they saw Snape exit a room.

"Snape!" Harry whispered loud enough for the professor to hear and stop in his tracks.

"It's about time you lot arrived," he deadpanned. "Turn left up that way and then it's the seventh door on the right." With a _whoosh_ of his cape the man was stalking off in the other direction and the boys ran the way they were told. After turning left the sound of screaming could be heard.

"That's Hermione!" Ron said running off no longer covered by the invisibility cloak.


	12. The MiniBattle

**Chapter 12: The Mini-Battle**

"Wait," Harry stopped the Weasley boys. "We can't just barge in there without a plan."

"Yes we can Harry, we have to for Hermione!" Ron tried going for the door.

"She would want us to have a plan so we don't kill ourselves."Harry countered. "I'll walk in uncloaked and leave the door open letting the three of you follow me. That will give Fred time to help Hermione into a safe spot in the room, George you can body bind Malfoy but don't hurt him; he's on our side now. Ron you stay close in case I need to become invisible. " The boys all agreed this was the best and they all got ready.

Harry stepped out from under the cloak and opened the wooden door, catching Voldemort by surprise. "Looking for me?" He asked, twirling his wand between his fingers. "I can tell you right now Hermione knew nothing about this so don't even think that she was lying to you."

"Mr. Potter, always a pleasure." The snake-like man said with a smirk. "I was wondering when you would come to the rescue of your friend, and the brains of your entire operation."

"Not soon enough obviously, it seems as though you've tortured her half to death."

It was then that Voldemort noticed the girl was no longer in the middle of the floor and that Malfoy had been petrified. "You're not alone," He said quietly. "As for your friend, Mr. Potter she will be fine. She has been under the care of your potions master after all."

"Well then she must have been in good hands considering we hated that man while at Hogwarts." Harry noticed that George had let off the petrifying charm and Malfoy was going for his wand. "However, I do commend your number one man for helping her. I must thank him sometime."

"Stop toying with me, Potter. I know you are here for something special so why not make a show of it?" With a flick of his wrist tens of death eaters appeared in the room. "Shall we get started?" The snake-man smirked once again but it did not eradicate Harry's senses. "Crucio!"

"Protego!"

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

Fred watched from behind a column with Hermione as Harry started dueling with his arch-nemesis.

"How are you holding up?" He asked the girl lying on the floor, careful not to attract any death eaters to their spot.

"Oh just peachy, not like this is anything I haven't been through before." She held out her arm where Bellatrix had carved "Mudblood".

Fred kissed her forehead. "Mum will be able to patch you back up so you feel better in no time." Hermione's sad smile was enough to make his heart break. "That and she'll feed you the most out of all of us."

Fred couldn't take his eyes off of the beautiful girl on the floor, his girlfriend. Even in excruciating pain she was still the most beautiful thing in the world to him. Her brown eyes were intently watching her best friend shoot spells from across the room and he could tell she was worrying about the outcome.

"I'm going to disillusion you so I can get you out of here. You need to see mum or go to St. Mungo's or something." Fred urged in her ear, knowing that the stress of the battle would only make her worse. "Don't even argue with me about it Mione, you know you need to get some medical help right now. Harry can take care of himself."

Tapping Hermione's head with his wand, Fred picked her up slowly and made way past everyone. Waiting for a spell to hit the wall the pair snuck out of the door without a hitch and ran down the corridor.

Finally making it back to the Burrow, Fred took no pauses. "MUM!" He yelled taking the spell off the both of them. "MUM, I NEED YOUR HELP!"

Molly Weasley ran out into the yard and seeing a limp Hermione she knew something was wrong. "She was tortured; I'm going to need dittany and a pain potion. Carry her into the family room, dear."

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

"Why don't you just give up Potter? You're never going to win; you must know that by now. How many times have you faced me and I always find a way to come back!" Voldemort yelled to Harry slinging another curse at him.

"You don't get it do you? Each time I face you, you get weaker. Not to mention all your horcruxes have been destroyed. Now you're the only one left and I am going to kill you!"

This was the opportunity Harry had been waiting for; Voldemort had been stunned by his horcrux comment and was vulnerable enough to be killed. However, the plan backfired and several death eaters lunged forward. At that moment George and Ron started firing spells and curses breaking the wands of those they incapacitated, and after a while the only people left in the struggle were Harry and Voldemort.

"Of course your back up is hiding," He snarled. "Probably afraid I'll kill them as well."

Harry laughed. "Or it's because they were supposed to be doing other things instead of trying to run away from you."

Harry looked around and noticed that Malfoy was either disillusioned or had slipped out during the scuffle. "You know what Tom, I'm sick and tired of having to hide everywhere I go. Don't you feel the same? I mean, everywhere you go you have to be disguised. For example: the back of Quirrell's head." The only chuckles came from the Weasley boys. "Or you have to hide away in Malfoy Manor, or in some grave yard."

"Yes, Potter I am tired of having to hide." Riddle replied. "Which is why I am going to kill you tonight and become the most powerful wizard in the world!" He shot another spell at the boy who dodged it and continued firing curses and jinxes.

"Just give up Riddle; it's not going to work." Harry yelled, also firing a spell at his nemesis. "You can't win without the help of your little minions and even then it doesn't work!"

Just then Voldemort stopped attacking Harry and laughed. "That is where you're wrong, Potter." And with a wave of his hand, Tom Riddle was gone.

"Did he just vanish into thin air?" Ron asked, coming out from under the cloak.

"I think so, let's get back to the Burrow and see how Hermione's doing." George answered checking to see if the corridor was clear.

**A/N: Ok this chapter might suck a little bit. It took me forever to finally get into writing mode and then after hours I would hit a wall. Hope you like it. **


	13. The Treacherous Must Die

**Chapter 13: The Treacherous Must Die**

Fred paced around the kitchen as his mother made dinner. He was worried about Hermione but didn't want to be in the family room so he wouldn't wake her up.

"Fred, please sit down and drink some tea. You're starting to make me go crazy." Molly finally said. "Wait, here come your brothers and Harry."

Fred bolted through the door and met the boys in the yard. "Well?" He asked.

"Riddle vanished into thin air, I couldn't get him." Harry looked defeated, as if he had been beating himself up over this.

Two more pops were heard around the back of Mr. Weasley's workshop and the boys held their wands at the ready. "Who's there?" Mrs. Weasley called trying to keep whoever it was from knowing there were four grown men about to hex the visitors.

"Severus and Draco, we're here to make sure Miss Granger is alright." The pair stepped out from behind the building both looking as distraught as the Weasley boys.

"Come inside, all of you." Molly got everyone into the kitchen and conjured tea at the table. "Severus, Hermione is in the family room on the couch. I gave her a sleepless dream potion so she would rest but it should be wearing off soon." The man nodded and went to check on the girl.

Draco sat with the boys for the first time as allies. No insults were thrown around and there were no harsh looks being traded.

"Thank you," Fred was the first to speak and stretch out his hand to Malfoy. "You saved her and I don't think any of us could be any more appreciative."

At first Malfoy stared in disbelief but eventually he took the hand in front of him and nodded his response. The rest of the boys all tipped their tea towards him in an ongoing thank you. A few moments later Snape returned to the kitchen.

"She will be fine with some rest and good food which I am certain you can provide Molly." The collective sighs made the tension dissipate. "She should not for any reason leave this house for at least a week or so. I cannot get you any more information sadly as someone told Him that I was helping the girl, I will have to go into hiding for awhile but if you owl Aberforth at the Hog's Head I will receive the message." He nodded to everyone at the table and again to Molly before leaving the Burrow.

"I should probably get going as well," Draco stood. "Make sure everything I have set away is still there."

"Why don't you let one of my boys go with you just in case something happens. Then maybe you can come back for dinner." Molly offered brushing the dirt off his shoulder. "It's the least we can do for looking after Hermione like you did."

Draco looked at everyone in the room and nodded. "I would like that."

"Good, now Fred and George why don't you go with Draco. Stay back a bit of course so no one thinks you're with him."

"Yes mum," The twins chorused as they followed the blonde out to the yard.

A few hours later the boys returned to the Burrow and were greeted by Arthur as well as a conscious Hermione.

"How are you feeling love?" Fred asked kissing her forehead.

"Like I was tortured," She tried to chuckle but winced.

"Can I get you anything?" He asked, getting a no in response. "Why don't you lie back down for a little bit, I'll come get you for dinner."

Fred wandered back out to the side porch and looked out across the yard.

"How is she?" Turning Fred noticed Malfoy sitting on the railing staring out as well.

"She's fine, still in pain but getting better." He responded. There was silence for awhile until Fred turned back to the boy. "Can I ask you something?" Malfoy nodded. "In Diagon Alley you offered Hermione anything she wanted if she would date you, but I never recall you ever even acting like you wanted to know anything more than her blood line."

Draco took a deep breath knowing that he was going to be asked eventually. "The way I acted in school was all a façade to get my father to like me. I was a jerk and a fool and I realize that now even though I can't take back anything I said or did and I think that screwed me over the most." He looked back over to Fred. "I've always thought Hermione was beautiful and when I saw you two in Diagon alley I got a little jealous and reverted back to my Hogwarts persona. I understand that you are together and I would never do anything to destroy that relationship, and by helping her in the mansion it probably looks like I'm trying to win her over but I'm not and that's something you just have to trust me on. I simply want to see my father and the Dark Lord are killed."

"Why?" Fred crossed his arms. "Why after so long are you starting to figure out that your father is an arse and that 'Dark Lord' of yours is nothing but a monster?"

"I have never had a meaningful relationship. Even with my parents, grandparents, any family I have. The only person I thought I could trust was my childhood friend but as it turns out he wasn't so reliable either."

"What are you talking about?" Fred was beginning to get frustrated.

"Don't you see Weasley? I'm jealous of your lifestyle! I wish I could have a family like yours that meets for dinner in this warm home and who loves you regardless of what you do. I wish I could have friends like you do, friends who would stand beside you even in times of war to help you defeat the greatest villain of our time and to save another person you all care for deeply."

"Boys, dinner!" Molly called out the door.

"Keep up the hero work and maybe you'll get your wish." Fred said before turning and making his way to the house. "Are you coming?"

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

Voldemort sat at the head of a long table; Malfoy Manor had been all but deserted because of the infiltration. The Death Eaters were now situated in another mansion, equal in size and space and also less well-known.

"We have been betrayed by Severus and Draco," The man hissed to his followers. "Obviously the boy was not the right choice to become one of my servants, and now he must be killed for his treachery." Narcissa Malfoy sat behind her husband with tears streaming down her cheeks, not daring to say a word. "However, all is not lost. I have a new boy to take Draco's place." Everyone turned their attention across from the Malfoy's to the new comer. "Everyone, welcome Viktor Krum."

**A/N: Oh, snap! How many people expected that one?**


	14. The Replacement

**Chapter 14: The Replacement**

Walking into the house Draco awkwardly sat at the table in between Harry and another of the Weasley boys. Fred walked into the living room to a sleeping Hermione.

Leaning over towards the girl Fred whispered in her ear. "Dinner time Hermione, you need to get up and eat something." The girl stirred for a moment and opened her eyes slowly.

"What time is it?" She asked groggily.

"Time for dinner, you really need to eat something." Fred smiled sadly at her. "Or at least be near people you know won't hurt you."

It took a few minutes but eventually Hermione was walking into the kitchen with Fred holding her by the waist. Everyone was excited to see the girl and made room for her to sit in between Fred and Charlie. The group all dug into the food encouraging Draco to push his way in and all talking about things like quidditch and Ginny's last year of school.

After a few hours the plates were all scraped clean and the group was all leaning back in their chairs happily.

"So Draco," Molly stood and waved her wand causing the dishes to start washing themselves. "Do you have a place to stay tonight?" The simple question caused any noise in the room to halt.

"Uh, no I don't." The blond looked around awkwardly. "I guess the mansion isn't exactly safe to go back to right now."

Molly turned towards him. "So you'll just have to stay here for awhile." The woman smiled and the grey eyes of Draco Malfoy lit up with something no one had ever seen before: happiness.

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley." He said smiling.

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

"I'm sure you have all figured out that we are in a secret mansion of Mr. Krum's that he is letting us borrow as our new headquarters." Voldemort smiled evilly at the head of the table. "Fortunately he is one of the most prominent figures in our world and can get into ministry functions without being suspicious."

The rest of the room nodded with his logic which of course would be irrefutable.

"It is a pleasure to be in such great company." Viktor announced to the room. "I haff waited so long to make an impact on the world." The evil grin that was plastered on his face was almost sickening.

"Now, first order of business." Voldemort returned to business, the same evil grin on his face. "How do we retaliate against the young Malfoy?"

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

After dinner everyone moved into the much larger family room so the boys could play a game of exploding snap. Hermione and Fred sat on the couch together watching the rest of the Weasley kids (minus Bill), Harry, and Draco throwing the cards down all laughing together.

Fred held Hermione's smaller hand in his noticing that it had lost of its size and felt like a pile of bones. "Are you feeling any better?" He whispered to her kissing her forehead.

Shrugging, the girl fought back tears. She wasn't okay and they all knew that, for Merlin's sake she had been held captive and tortured. The only other people who could say they'd been through the same thing were Harry and to some extent Ginny. The rest had no clue what was going through her head.

"That seemed more like you didn't want to tell me the truth." Fred pointed out; he was just as worried but knew that Hermione wouldn't talk in front of everyone. She wouldn't want them all to see her cry. "Want to go to the tree house to talk?" Nodding Fred stood and pulled her up with him.

"Where are you two going?" Molly called across the room drawing attention to the couple.

"Mione wanted some air so I'm going to take her outside for awhile." Fred responded.

Everyone's face fell. "But Snape said not to let her out of the house." Charlie pointed out. "It's still way too dangerous for her right now."

"It's just to the tree house, we'll be covered." Fred knew that his girlfriend really needed to get out of the house for a moment at least, but they were right it was too dangerous.

Arthur shook his head no. "It's too dangerous, for Hermione and Draco. It's not a good idea for either of them to leave right now."

Knowing that his father's word was final the pair nodded. "Want to just go upstairs and lie down?" Hermione nodded again and Fred helped her up the stairs to Ginny's room.

"Let's go to your room," Fred's face must have looked surprised because his girlfriend blushed. "I've never seen it."

"Alright, it's a mess though." Hermione chuckled.

Shaking his head Fred led her up one more flight of stairs and opened the door. "You can sit down on my bed, it's over on the far wall." Letting her walk over by herself, but watching carefully Fred started moving some clothes and boxes out of the middle of the floor.

"Are those filled with things for your inventions?" Hermione asked grabbing a pillow and curling up.

Fred smiled and sat by her feet. "Yeah, there are ingredients for certain pieces to work and assembly parts." He reached out and started rubbing her leg. "Want to see our newest invention?" The excited look on Fred's face gave Hermione butterflies. "It's called the Shaking Spatula. Something that mum would hate. Basically, when it gets close to anything hot it starts shaking violently until you pull it away." Hermione started laughing, this was definitely something that kids would buy and switch out their mother's real spatula.

"Let's see if it works." Hermione pulled out her wand and heated the tip, Fred slowly moved the spatula towards the wand and they both watched as it started vibrating. When the spatula was on top of the wand it actually did start shaking and flew out of his hand across the room.

The pair started laughing hysterically as the utensil banged against the wall. "George and I are planning on opening a joke shop when we can afford it." Finally Fred broke the silence and was speaking quietly but excitedly. "It's going to be the brightest most annoying place in the Alley."

Turning towards the bed Fred saw his girlfriend had fallen asleep again curled up with his pillow, a small smile on her lips.

And that was when Fred felt it. Love.


	15. The Visitor

**Chapter 15: The Visitor**

It was after a few moments that Fred realized he couldn't have Hermione asleep in his bed or his mum would freak out. But he sat there gently stroking his girlfriend's hair and hoping that her sleep would be calm.

_She doesn't deserve to have nightmares at such a young age._ Fred thought to himself. _But she has been fighting a war for the past seven years, I'm sure she's gotten slightly used to it._

Internally fighting with himself Fred realized that if he didn't take his girlfriend across the hall she probably wouldn't sleep well and he would get the yelling of a lifetime from his mother if she saw the pair in the same bed. Finally, Fred put his arms underneath Hermione's shoulders and knees lifting her into the air with ease and with tons of luck George opened the door just as Fred was making his way across the floor. Noticing what his twin was doing George walked across the hall and opened the door into Charlie's old room.

"Thanks," Fred closed their bedroom door and started changing into his pajamas. "Impeccable timing you have by the way."

Shrugging George stripped himself of the tee-shirt he had been wearing. "What can I say; I just knew you needed me."

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

And so the days came and went for the big family. Bill and Fleur came to visit with their daughter Victoire for dinner sometimes, and Charlie got a weekend off from the dragon reserve sometimes, and even though everyone was happy for awhile there was always the feeling of uneasiness.

Hermione and Fred took dates to Diagon Alley sometimes but they always had at least one other person with them, normally George and his new girlfriend Alicia Spinnet.

One night at dinner Fred and George stood up, "We have an announcement to make," The twins had snuck out early that morning in their nicest looking clothes and had come back with huge grins on their faces. "We have decided to open our own joke shop in Diagon Alley."

Everyone at the table stopped eating and stared at the two, Mrs. Weasley's lips had already pursed.

"It's called 'Weasley Wizard Wheezes' and we are very proud to say that it will be open for business next week."

Silence. The children were all very excited to hear this news as well as Mr. Weasley, but their mother was as red in the face as a sunburned polar bear.

"And where did you get the money to do such a thing?" Screeching at her boys, who had dropped their glasses on the floor Mrs. Weasley stood from the table. "And where did you get the money to develop your pranks?"

"I gave it to them," Harry stumbled across his words and though he had spoken softly they were loud enough for everyone to hear correctly. "I gave them the money I won from the triwizard tournament, I knew they wanted to open a shop so when they came to check on me in the hospital wing I handed them the bag of galleons."

Mrs. Weasley turned towards the young boy with a smile on her face. "Oh Harry dear, I'm not blaming you. I just think these two could have thought about it a bit more and possibly included their parents in the decision."

"You would have said no," Fred started.

"And we would have done it anyway." Hermione pulled out her wand and cleaned up the spilled drinks just in case the boys had to run from their mother, which was something they had thought about doing. "We know you're mad mum, but we're doing something we love and it's something that you won't be able to stop."

With that, Mrs. Weasley teared up. "I know. I guess as long as you're happy with what you're doing than there's no reason for me to be mad at you."

The rest of dinner went without a hitch and finally the rest of the children could congratulate Fred and George on becoming fully fledged business men. Hermione held Fred's hand under the table.

"Hermione dear, please eat up you're still looking rather peckish." Mrs. Weasley called to her.

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

The next few days the twins were working on the shop and the apartment above it which is where they would be living so if something happened they didn't have to go very far.

Finally, the opening day of Weasley Wizard Wheezes came and everyone was very excited. Fred and George had worked very hard on trying to make it the store of their dreams and Hermione thought they had done a great job, of course she was their new store clerk so she wouldn't complain even if it were bad.

"You boys have really out done yourselves," Their father complimented with an awed look on his face. "This store is fantastic." Everyone agreed and ran around looking at the hundred of products stocked. Ginny fell in love with a pygmy puff which made Hermione laugh because she had guessed that would be one of Gin's favorites. Also she placed a bet with George for five galleons.

When the bell above the door rang for the millionth time that day no one bothered to look up, instead they just kept working to keep the influx of customers to a minimum.

"Hermioninny?"

The girl stopped, she knew that voice. "Viktor?" The man nodded and pulled her into a hug. "How have you been? And what on Earth are you doing in London?"

"I haff missed you and I heard this store vas opening. I thought I would stop in and see how you are doing."

"I'm doing alright, getting into the swing of things here." Hermione laughed as Fred and George walked over. "These are my bosses Fred and George Weasley."

"Pleasure." Viktor shook hands with the boys who went on excitedly about the quidditch world cup they had seen him in and the triwizard tournament.

After the boys went back to helping restock Viktor sighed with relief. "So do you haff a boyfriend, Hermioninny?"

Blushing, she nodded. "Actually it's Fred, we started dating not long ago and since I needed the money and they needed a store clerk it was a perfect opportunity." Having always been good at keeping his poker face, Viktor remained silent. "What about you, are you seeing anyone?"

"Oh no, I am much too busy for that kind of thing. Besides I am still missing you."

By the time all the customers had left and the door was locked Hermione was exhausted. It had been a non-stop work day for all three of them, it seemed as though everyone who had known Fred and George in school came by to check the place out and little kids drug their parents into the brightly colored store.

As the register was being counted, Hermione and Fred stocked the shelves for the fourth time that day. "It's a good thing we ordered so many extra boxes of this stuff." Levitating product after product up to the highest shelf, Fred would mumble to himself.

The day had been a success.

"So what did dear old Viktor want to talk about?" Levitating boxes into the room and stocking the shelves had given Fred some time to get a little bit jealous, he didn't have hundred of patrons to wait on anymore.

"Don't do this Fred," Hermione responded. "You know he and I are friends and nothing more."

Dropping his arm at his side Fred stared at his girlfriend incredulously, "Friends don't say that they don't have a girlfriend because they miss you too much, or ask if you have a boyfriend right off the bat. Friends wait to hear that news from you, they don't try to get the information out themselves."

"Stop, you're working yourself up over something that isn't even relevant. Yes, Viktor has little tact when talking to girls but I can't change the way he does things and I'm sorry you can't be more understanding of that."

Fred stood there, he was being a little more than unfair to Hermione. There was nothing either of them could do about the way a world famous quidditch star talked to her and there was definitely no way Fred could ask her to stop talking to Krum all together not if he truly loved her.

"I'm sorry," Was all he said before retreating to the back room.

"Something wrong Freddie?" George didn't even have to look up to know that his twin was upset.

"Just the whole Krum thing, I don't trust him especially not around Hermione. She's much too fragile to have her 'friend' double cross her right now."

"She's also too fragile to have her boyfriend not trust her right now," The twins had always been the only ones to understand each other, Fred knew that his other half could tell him what he needed to hear. "You need to trust her judgment right now, she's weary of everyone including us and if I know Hermione I know that she's not going to blindly jump into a meeting with Krum right now and probably not for awhile."

Nodding, Fred stood. "Thanks George. I guess I should go talk to her."

"While you're at it, tell her how you feel."

Chuckling, Fred returned to the front of the store only to find a collapsed Hermione.

**A/N: Oh no! Hopefully everyone is enjoying the story so far!**


	16. Gifts and Girl Talk

**Chapter 16: Gifts and Girl Talk**

"Hermione!" Jumping over the counter Fred raced towards his collapsed girlfriend. "Please wake up Hermione, wake up." Cradling her head it didn't look as though she had been attacked. "George! Go get mum, tell her Hermione fainted or something."

A few moments later the matriarch ran into the store front and silently waved her wand over the girl. Sighing with relief she looked at her boys. "Fatigue, nothing more. She just needs some rest, I suggest she stays with you two tonight and takes the day off work tomorrow."

"Thanks mum," The boys chorused as she left. "I'll take her up to my room," Fred lifted Hermione into his arms. "I'll sleep on the couch tonight."

When Fred reached the flat above the store he took the sleeping girl to his room and laid her in his bed. Taking of her shoes and sweatshirt he tucked the girl in before closing the door. George had arrived not long after and started making dinner for the pair of them.

"You think she's gonna be alright?" The simple question made Fred's brain spit out a bunch of different questions. _What if this is a side effect from the torture? Will this happen all the time? What if there's nothing we can do about it? Will this go away?_ "Fred, are _you_ alright?"

Nodding, Fred ran his finger through his hair. "Yeah I'm fine; I just hope Hermione is too." Then it hit him. "You know, Krum was talking to her earlier, maybe he hexed her or something!"

"Let's not jump to conclusions just yet; we would need solid evidence that he did something to her. Besides mum said it was just because she's tired." George brought two plates of spaghetti out to the table setting one in front of his brother.

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

It took a few weeks, but Hermione started feeling better. She wasn't as tired anymore and had stopped making a habit of fainting which made Fred happy.

Staying at the Burrow had helped a lot too, Molly had made sure that Hermione ate as much as she could at every meal.

Christmas finally came around and the Burrow was a flutter with all the guests. Bill, Fleur, and their daughter Victoire would visit at meals and especially Christmas day, Charlie got a portkey in from Romania for the week, Percy and the twins stopped in for meals just like Bill but Fred would always manage to stay a little longer.

"I got you something." He and Hermione were sitting on the couch watching the flames dance in the fireplace late on Christmas eve, after everyone had gone to bed. "I figured it would be more special if I gave this to you now and not in front of everyone else tomorrow morning." The twins were staying in their old room for the night, which much to Mrs. Weasley's chagrin was directly across the hall from Ginny's room.

"You didn't have to get me anything special." Cooing as Fred brought out the rectangular box adorned with a scarlet bow.

"I did actually, because you're special to me and I wanted to make that clear."

Hermione kissed him fully on the lips. "You already have." Opening the box, Hermione gasped. Inside was the most beautiful bracelet she had ever seen, it was silver with a ribbon running through the chain the same scarlet as the bow. Attached to one of the links was a single charm: the Gryffindor crest. "It's beautiful Fred."

"I feel as though I have to explain it to you a bit," The pair shifted so they could see each other a little better and as Fred took the bracelet out of the box he clasped it on his girlfriend's dainty wrist and explained. "Most of the Weasley women have gotten a charm bracelet at some point in their lives, generally when they're younger so they can add on as they get older. Dad gave mum one for their first Christmas with a Gryffindor crest on it as well, and Ginny got one when she was young too, and I'm pretty sure Bill gave Fleur one, they get charms for their bracelets when something has happened. Ginny got a Gryffindor crest when she was sorted, mum has one for every child and for their wedding which was a weasel, and now I'm sure Fleur has one for Victoire."

Hermione's eyes were glistening with unshed tears, listening to the story. "This is wonderful Fred, I'm so glad to have gotten one."

"Well I'm hoping that I can add on to the bracelet as time goes on, I started with the Gryffindor charm because that's how we met. I have a few others in mind as well but you'll just have to wait until next Christmas for those." The cheeky red-head winked and kissed his girlfriend one more time before they made their way upstairs and to bed.

"Wake up, Hermione!" Ginny was shaking the brunette's cot with such vigor there might have been an earthquake going on. "It's Chris-" The girl stopped yelling as Hermione stretched her arms out yawning. "What is that around your wrist?"

The realization hit her, Hermione hadn't taken off the bracelet before she went to bed the night before. "It was a Christmas present, from Fred."

Ginny squealed with joy and ran across the hall not bothering to close doors. Jumping on Fred's bed the high pitched words obviously woke him up.

"Ginny what are you going on about?"

"You. Gave. Hermione. A. Bracelet!" Jumping with each word Ginny's grin grew even wider.

Fred looked out the door at Hermione and gave her a winning smile. "Might as well wear it downstairs."

Eventually the children all made their way to the family room where the Christmas tree was a light and stuffed with presents.

There was wrapping paper everywhere within the half hour, and Victoire was enjoying it. There were thank you's, and squeals of joy from the little blonde girl at her toys. Fred reached for a long box behind the tree with his name on it and with his entire families eyes on him he unwrapped the package.

"That's the new firebolt!" Ginny yelled across the room. "Who gave that to you?"

There was complete silence as Fred searched for the card, when he found it his lips turned into a big smile. "Thank you, Hermione."

"How did you afford that?"

"Can I ride it?"

"How did you _get _it?"

"I know you said you needed a new broom for awhile," She whispered to Fred as everyone else was rambling out questions. "I figured I could get you one for Christmas."

Leaning over and kissing the brunette, Fred smiled again. "Thank you,"

Christmas brunch was fantastic as always and everyone was buzzing on about their gifts, Ron was still stuck on how Hermione could have afforded such an expensive broom.

"I told you Ron, I saved everything I earned. Plus I still had some left over from when my account was started."

"It's a good thing you've got a job then," George joked.

Everyone ran outside after brunch to watch Fred test out his new broom. Hermione stayed back to help clean up the dishes, but Mrs. Weasley flicked her wand and the sink got to work.

"I want to show you something." Taking the younger girls hand, Molly Weasley led her into the master bedroom. Hermione sat on the edge of the bed at the older woman dug through a small jewelry box for a moment. "This is the charm bracelet Arthur gave me, I'm sure Fred told you about it."

Hermione nodded as she gently took the bracelet which was now heavy with charms. There was the weasel, the Gryffindor crest, and for every child there was a circle with their initials, six were blue and one was pink, there were also others that Hermione didn't know the importance of but thought were beautiful anyway.

"I know Fred cares about you very much Hermione, he must if he gave you this." Indicating to her wrist. "I also know that you thought I would be upset, when you announced you and Fred started dating. Everyone had thought you and Ron would end up together, it was just something we all thought when you two got close. But I want to let you know that no matter what, you will always be a part of this family whether you're married to one of my sons or not there will always be a place for you here."

Tears were glistening down Hermione's cheeks now, "Thank you, so much." She sobbed. "I thought the holidays would be difficult since I had to send my parents off, and it has been but not nearly as hard as I thought it would be." The women hugged and laughed as they heard yelling outside. "I should probably go see how he likes the broom."

"Hermione dear, may I ask how you got such a sought after broom?"

"There are perks to being Harry Potter's best friend." And with a laugh the girl left the room, not noticing the motherly love dancing in Molly Weasley's eyes.

**A/N: Yay! Another chapter! I'm really excited about this story and I'm hoping that soon enough everything will be put into place. Enjoy!**


	17. The Gain and the Loss

**Chapter 17: The Gain and The Loss**

The months went past, and the store was still booming. Hermione spent most of her time with the twins in the flat, but the three still made appearances at the Burrow for dinners. This was not one of those nights.

Fred had decided that he was taking Hermione out for a nice romantic dinner, just the two of them. In a few months time he and Hermione would have been dating for one whole year, a new record for Fred.

"You look ravishing," The red-head stood when his girlfriend walked into the room wearing royal purple strapless dress that cut off right above her knees, strappy black heels, a silver clutch, and of course her charm bracelet. Hermione had never been one for make-up, but the little she wore made her look flawless.

"Thank you, and you look very handsome." Leaning in and kissing her boyfriend gently Hermione smiled broadly. "So where are we going?"

When they finally walked into the fancy looking restaurant the pair was assaulted by delicious smells wafting through the air.

"I have something for you." Looking up from the menu, Hermione was surprised. Fred never gave her random gifts. Pushing the small box towards her, Fred looked rather nervous as he watched her pull the lid off. Inside sat a silver heart charm.

Hermione looked up at him happiness spread across her face and waiting for him to speak.

"I love you Hermione, I have for awhile I just didn't have to guts to tell you before. But now, you have a charm to prove it." Unshed tears were glistening in Hermione's eyes as she fastened the heart onto her bracelet, gasping as it turned bright red. "That's the coolest part about it, when I'm thinking about you the heart glows."

"It's perfect Fred, thank you."

And so the night went on, the charm stayed red and for the first time Hermione stayed the night in Fred's flat.

Waking up the next morning, Hermione found herself alone in the strange room. She knew it was Fred's room, but she wasn't accustomed to being in it let alone waking up in it.

Bursting through the door, Fred set down a tray of various breakfast foods and smiled. "Good morning, love. How did you sleep?"

"Fine, I was a bit concerned when I woke up and found you were gone though." She got a cheeky wink in response and started nibbling on a piece of toast.

"You should probably put some clothes on, though I'm saying that unwillingly. But we have work in an hour."

"Do you mind if I shower here?" Fred shook his head and summoned a towel for her. "I'll be right back."

Losing her virginity wasn't something that Hermione thought as perfect or captivating like the muggle movies portrayed it as. There were no sparks, no flashing lights, just a bit of pain and a mess. She knew that Fred hadn't been a virgin but she trusted him enough that she wasn't worried.

Stepping out of the shower and drying herself off, Hermione magically straightened her hair and summoned the clothes she had worn to work the day before. Charming her tee-shirt to a different color she smiled at her work and left the bathroom.

Work went by relatively uneventful for the three before Ginny waltzed in asking Hermione to lunch.

"Mum was kind of worried when you didn't come home last night."

"I knew she would be, what did you say?"

Ginny had always been the master at covering for people, she knew that Hermione and Fred were having a romantic night and didn't want to be interrupted. "I told her that you guys were probably out late and you crashed there, but one of you slept on the couch so you're going to have to figure out who." Nodding, Hermione sipped on her soup. "So, what did end up happening last night?"

"Well, we went to dinner, and he gave me this new charm." Lifting her wrist to show the glowing red heart Ginny gasped.

"It's gorgeous! How did he give it to you, was it special or was it more like a 'here you go, hope you like it' sort of thing?"

Hermione blushed, she was happy about how the night had gone and was truly happy that Fred admitted her loved her. "He told me that he loves me."

The red-head squealed again pulling her friend into a tight hug across the table. "I'm so happy for you two!"

_**Present Day**_

"It was one of the happiest times of my life." Fingering the charm in question Hermione smiled sadly at the reflecting silver that had began to dull at being handled too much. "We were young and in love, and had made so many transitions in our lives over that year. But neither of us was ready for what happened in the following years."

_**Back to the flashback**_

Hermione and Fred had been dating for a little over three years, happiness seemed to ooze out of their pores and Hermione's wrist was starting to get heavy with charms given to her as gifts.

Looking down happily at her right arm she looked over her newest charms. There was a ring, similar to the engagement ring Fred had given her when he proposed, a weasel because she was going to become a Weasley soon, and a silver circle with the initials FW engraved in it.

Molly had been more than happy to hear the news, even though she chastised them for being so young, she knew deep down that it was a time of war and they were in love.

"I can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together," Fred would muse aloud sometimes. "Just to be able to grow old and watch our kids grow up and then have children of their own. Sending them off to Hogwarts one by one."

Fantasizing about their future children made Hermione smile, she could imagine the flaming red curls bouncing around on her sons heads and welcoming brown eyes, and maybe even a daughter with straight brown hair and blue eyes just like her fathers.

They were due to get married the very next month and Hermione had started moving some of her things over to the flat. She didn't mind sharing a living space with George, he was more fun than burden sometimes and besides that, she was just happy to be marrying Fred.

While she was cooking one night, waiting for the twins to close up shop she heard the rush of the fireplace. Running into the living room to see who was stopping by at such an odd hour she ran into Ron who was white in the face.

"What's wrong?" Pleading for an answer Hermione shook her best friend. "Is someone hurt?"

Finally, Ron shook his head. Neither had noticed Fred and George walk into the room just as Ron started talking. "McGonagall sent us an owl, me and Harry. It said that the death eaters were starting to collect themselves on the grounds of Hogwarts and that we should get ready to fight, then Harry stood up and apparated away." Everyone was silent at Ron's words. "He left without the cloak, Hermione he could easily be killed."

Turning off the stove quickly Hermione raced through the living room towards the fireplace. "Gryffindor Common room!" She yelled, knowing that the floo networks to the school were most likely opened now. She arrived to a chaotic scene, prefects were trying to get everyone underage lined up so they could leave safely, and when they saw Hermione followed by the three Weasley boys enter through the fire it all seemed too real for them.

"Is anyone else coming through?" The prefect asked Hermione, who shook her head. "Good, now everyone take a pinch of powder and follow my directions!"

The four ran out of the common room and towards the Great Hall, they knew that everyone would be forming up there. The professors that had been running through the corridors as well seemed pleased to see them all. McGonagall was yelling directions to the students that had formed in the Great Hall but stopped to talk to Hermione and Ron.

"Potter was here a few moments ago, he wanted to see what the plan was for everyone here and then ran away." The normally rigid woman looked haphazard. Her bun was lopsided and pieces of hair were flying about. "By the way Granger and Weasley, congratulations."

Meeting up with the rest of the family just as Molly and Arthur were forbidding Ginny to fight, there was a voice echoing through the halls.

"Give me Harry Potter, and you all shall live." Screaming. People realized who it was talking and they screamed grabbing at their heads. "If you do not give me Harry Potter within the hour, I will send my death eaters into your school and let them do what they please. You have one hour."

"Hermione I want to let you know, that whatever happens tonight I love you with all of my heart."

"I love you too Fred, I always will."

**A/N: Oh no! We're getting down to the end of the story, but I hope that I can serve it justice. Obviously I'm paraphrasing on some of the lines, like Voldemort's because it's currently 3:50 am and I don't feel like getting up to consult my book. Cheers!**


	18. How the Story Ends

**Chapter 18: How the Story Ends**

There was too much commotion within the Hogwarts grounds to even worry about loved ones. Fred ran around with Percy who had arrived and begged forgiveness from his family.

"I never got to say congratulations on your engagement." Percy whispered to Fred behind a statue. "I always thought you two would be a great couple."

Fred hugged his brother tightly. "Thank you, it means so much."

"Let's go kick some ass."

The Weasley boys ran through the halls shooting off hex after hex until a misplaced spell hit the wall behind Fred's head causing the stone to come crumbling down on top of him. Percy, full of fury finished the duel incapacitating the two men.

"Fred, stay with me. Don't die."

"I will give you one hour to retrieve your dead and help your wounded. Harry Potter, I speak now to you and you alone. You have one hour to meet me in the Forbidden Forest." The voice rang through the grounds and the death eaters disapperated leaving only those who needed help.

"Fred!" The rest of the Weasley clan appeared at his side shocked. All except Ron and Hermione.

"Harry you can't go alone!" Ron's argument actually made sense to Hermione for once.

"Guys we just watched Snape, a man who devoted his life to protecting us die. I need to do this so that no one else has to die for no reason."

_There was no arguing with Harry when he got this way. _All Hermione could do was hug her best friend. Ron followed suit and then led her back into the Great Hall.

"Hermione." A tearful Ginny found her near the doors. Instantly she knew what happened. Ron had fallen to his brothers side.

She couldn't move. Frozen, staring at her fiancé and his family she suddenly didn't know what to do. The steps she took were robotic almost forced. The tears were streaming down her face uncontrollably but Hermione couldn't feel them, she could barely feel Mr. Weasley's hand holding onto her shoulder. Hermione picked up her hands to wipe away her tears but was caught off guard.

"The charm." Hermione murmured. "Guys, he's still alive!" Lifting up her wrist she showed the rest of the family how the heart charm was still glowing the brightest it had ever been. "It glows when he thinks about me, he's still alive!"

_**Present Day**_

"I remember that." George grabbed Hermione's hand comfortingly. "As soon as she said that there was a huge frenzy with healers in the area. So many healing spells thrown his way, tons of people pushing their way towards him. Then suddenly the color came back to his cheeks." Blaise smiled sadly at the two. "He was taken to St. Mungo's right away."

_**Flashback**_

"Hermione, I'm fine." Fred grabbed onto his fiance's hands. "I will be in perfect shape for our wedding."

Fred had been having this discussion with Hermione since the accident. "I just don't want you to be hurt or still fatigued."

"I know love, but I'll be fine. Mum is going to make sure that I have all the proper potions to keep any pain away and to make sure I'm awake and alright for the entire thing." Leaning down to give her a kiss, Fred smiled.

**Fast-Forward**

It was a summer wedding. Hermione wore a strapless white dress that hung right above her knees while the bridesmaids wore dresses in the same fashion but in Gryffindor gold with scarlet heels.

"Do you Fredrik Weasley, take Hermione Granger to be your wife from this day forward."

"I do."

"And do you Hermione Granger, take Fredrik Weasley to be your husband from this day forward."

"I do."  
"Ladies and gentlemen, I now pronounce to you: Mr. and Mrs. Fredrik Weasley!"

The ceremony went off without a hitch, the reception lasted long into the night. Hermione was constantly on the dance floor with her friends from school.

Because she was so distracted by her friends Fred had the time to grab his mum and sneak off to the Burrow.

"How bad is it?"

Fred sat down at the dinner table and rested his head on his hands. "Bad enough. I'm not sure I could handle dancing anymore."

"Fred, if it hurts you need to see a professional healer instead of your mother."

"I know, and I will. I just didn't want to worry Hermione right before the wedding but now I'm realizing that was a mistake." Groaning Fred took the potion from his mothers hands and gulped it down. "I'm going tomorrow, I need to."

"I don't know why you wouldn't just tell me Fred." Hermione's soft voice reached Fred's ears. "I'm more worried about you rather than just having a good time."

Taking his new bride's hands Fred stood and kissed her. "Let's go finish our wedding. We can worry about this tomorrow."

_**Present-Day**_

"The pain was actually a left over amount of dark magic that was encased in his body when he was knocked unconscious at the Battle of Hogwarts. Since there really wasn't a whole lot we could do because it had been so long since the accident, the dark magic just ate away at him." Hermione's voice started shaking. "Over the next few years it got worse and the pain increased. Eventually it spread throughout his body and just got to bed too much."

Blaise sat at the table, years ago he never would have entertained the thought of sitting with a Weasley and Know-it-all Granger but here it was sitting with them in a muggle establishment. He didn't know what to think or how to act to the story so all he could bring himself to do was grab Hermione's petite hand and squeeze the fingers lightly.

Looking around the pub the lights were turned on and the rest of the staff was cleaning tables and putting up chairs. "Looks like it's about time to close up." The dark skinned man stood and threw down some money covering the entire tab.

"It's been an interesting night Blaise," George shook the old foes hand. "Thanks."

"My pleasure." Shaking George's hand and kissed Hermione on the cheek. "If you guys ever want to hang out again you know where to find me." Opening his arms to the pub and walking out, Hermione giggled at her old school foe.

"Time to get you home Mione."

Apparating to the Burrow George and Hermione walked into their home arm in arm, one of the most horrible nights in their lives seeming much better now.

For the first time in years, Hermione did not fall asleep crying on the anniversary of her fiance's death.

**A/N: I know it's sad but this story is over. Fred and Hermione will be one of my favorite couples to write so maybe soon I'll start another story of theirs! Thanks for reading and sticking with the story all the way through!**


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